Open Secret by nightshades

‘Open Secret’, the third full-length album from nightshades, arrives as the spacious counterpart to 2025’s earlier release, 'Inside Joke'. While ‘Inside Joke’, with its tightly packed and dark arrangements, saw the BC collaborative art rock band maintain a frenetic pace, 'Open Secret' takes time to exhale: expansive, atmospheric, and effortlessly melodic. The same four minds - Andrew Judah, Common Fires, DL Ranney, and N. Sherman - return to trade instruments, voices, and instincts in constant rotation, blurring authorship and showcasing the band at ease with their genre-fluidity.

At times, ‘Open Secret’ becomes mischievous and old-school in its melodic turns (‘Cursed’, ‘A Minute’), drifting between emotive synth landscapes (‘Open Secret’, ‘Leaves’) and wide-open acid rock arrangements (‘Carrier Pigeon’, ‘Red & Orange’). Moments of coquettish detachment (‘No Spooky’, ‘Slickers’) exist in direct contrast to striking vulnerability (‘Okay’, ‘Ghost’), presenting ‘Open Secret’s diverse musical influences as a series of warm, confident vignettes.

nightshades is a collaborative indie rock band, featuring four esteemed Canadian songwriters (Andrew Judah, Common Fires, DL Ranney, and N.Sherman). In a Beatles-esque timeshare of accessible, vibrant music; nightshades' sound is rich with psychedelic flourish, but anchored in melodic hooks and pop sensibility.